Marketing Ohio Libraries

Euclid Public Library

The marketing process at Euclid Public Library: mission, research, plan, target market, promote, evaluate. Special events: Teachers Day, Haircut.

Library staff

Part of marketing is letting the community know what the library does -- and sometimes it's letting the community know what library staff are doing to make a contribution to their community! One special staff member is Katie Collins, a 1999 graduate of Euclid High School in Euclid, Ohio, and an employee of the city's public library.

"Katie decided to cut her hair. It wasn't an easy decision because it hadn't been cut for 6 years and measured about 4 feet in length! Katie wanted her hair to serve a purpose other than going in the trash, so she decided to donate it to "Wigs for Kids." Read the full story.

Teacher Open House

One market segment for EPL is teachers. A recent successful Teachers Day tour opened new lines of communication for the library.

"We created a special day for teachers in August. The Teacher Open House allowed us to welcome over 400 teachers on their first day back to school (prior to the students' arrival.) The teachers were invited to this special event in May. We needed the support of the superintendent who put us on the agenda as an action item for the teachers' in-service day."

"Our guests toured the library in a manner very much like a "trade show." We only had one hour to show our stuff! When they entered the building they were welcomed into our large meeting room where they were handed a plastic bag, folder, Library Lines magazine and the map for their tour. As they exited the meeting room and entered the main area of the library they were on their own to tour the building according to what interested them."

"We were surprised to find that each of the teachers wanted to see the entire building - not just their grade level for teaching! At each "station" they were greeted with a poster that told them the services described there. Our staff members were identified with a special name badge. At the 14 highlighted stations, the teachers were given a five-minute description of our service. They also received fliers, bookmarks and a special gift at each stop. When the teachers left the building after their whirl-wind tour, they were weighted down with gifts and paper goods!"

"This event was a super success in that it opened the door for future communication. Printed on each handout are our name, address, phone numbers and web site. As a result of this tour, we have been asked to conduct in-school story times, we were welcomed to host tables at each Open House, teachers are using the assignment alert forms, and best of all we have signed up a record number of teacher library cards! This event couldn't have been more successful. Without a doubt it was the best way to reach out to a wide variety of teachers in a succinct manner."

Marketing success at  Euclid Public Library

"The single most important thing we can do in the future to market our library is never put our guard down!"

"We should never presume that people know we have DVDs or that we conduct story times for little ones or have Large Type for those who need it. The market for our services changes daily. We need to remember that residents move in and out of the community; it is ever changing."

This is reflected in their mission, the foundation for marketing planning:

"As the community's center for enrichment, Euclid Public Library is committed to providing a variety of resources to meet the lifelong learning needs of our citizens."

Market research

Market research discovers the needs of citizens. EPL's market research includes many of the traditional methods: random phone interviews (especially at levy time), in-house surveys with collection boxes around the library, and they log on to the Orbis site to see how it describes their neighborhoods demographically.

The community relations coordinator monitors the outside influences on the library that are constantly changing. For example, when a large number of people were laid off in the city recently, the library promoted career guidance services. Events like this, which influence the city, have an effect on how they do business.

"Opportunities are always there to reach out to another segment of the population, yet we need to keep an eye out for our abilities and resources so they are not strained."

EPL knows that book and video stores as well as web services are competitors, but don't feel they are a threat to libraries' free services. They try to remind patrons that they are already paying taxes to support the public library, so why pay money to rent something that they can borrow? For web competition, they believe it is important to remind the public that there is a lot if misinformation, or "faction" on the web and libraries are in the information business.

"We are the specialists, and we stay on top of the most accurate and informative web sites. In essence, a campaign of don't try this at home should be reinforced!"

Planning

In market planning, the library emphasizes the need to maintain balance and not favor one segment of the population over another. The community is very blended, so they promote a wide variety of services and programs. Each program and event requires a different promotional strategy.

Promotion strategies

The type of promotion EPL uses reflects the service or promotion they are showcasing. For example, if marketing a new collection of popular titles in Large Type, they put up posters in the Senior Centers and offer a speaker to address the monthly meeting of the senior apartment complexes. When they promote school age programs that will be held in the late afternoons, they send fliers to the age-appropriate schools. Personal contact with the assistant superintendent and principals assures cooperation with getting the fliers into the teachers' mailboxes.

Targeting a specific genre reader is difficult, so they use in-house displays and eye-catching graphics "to stop them in their tracks" long enough to make an impact. The use of items that are not typical to a library makes patrons pause long enough to find out what is going on.

Recent promotion for an Afternoon Tea included the use of a mannequin, dressed in her finery, sitting at an elegantly set table. Fliers on the table were nicely folded to look like invitations. 500 program fliers were taken from the table, and the program was successful.

EPL finds the single best strategy for promotion is direct mail to each and every resident!

Examples of other strategies

Network in person at monthly Chamber of Commerce meetings, and electronically to stay in touch with city hall and other organizations with a short email now and then.

Use direct marketing, mailing a calendar of events three times a year. "Patrons comment that they cling to these so they know what is going on at the library!"

Use free publicity resources. EPL has made it a policy never to pay for advertisement. As a tax-supported facility, they feel that what they do is newsworthy, even in an urban setting, and they have had numerous articles featuring library events.

Send press releases (randomly rather than regularly) to local media, and request a writer and photographer be sent to cover stories.

Sponsor a table at the high school's career fair or the hospital's health fair.

Create regular exhibits and displays to keep a new and fresh look for the library. They have several display cabinets and invite the public to display items as well as using the cabinets to promote services.

Speak at local meetings. "If they don't ask, we offer!"

Work with the Friends of the Library and other groups, such as donating a basket of items to the Chamber's annual Holiday Raffle.

How they evaluate

Measuring achievement is always a challenge, but worthwhile. EPL uses evaluation to improve the way they do things. For example, when they received minimal response for press releases sent regularly, switching to sending them only for the most "newsworthy" events improved response.

"Numbers of patrons attending an event is one of the most obvious ways to evaluate. If we target market a collection of books, circulation numbers work. Also, if we hear about an event many months later from our targeted group, that's a good measure of the staying power of the promotion. For the "Teacher Open House," we have had great positive feedback during the months since the event."

At EPL, marketing helps in filling the library mission, letting users know that the library is "committed to providing a variety of resources to meet the lifelong learning needs of our citizens."

[From email interview with Rebecca McFarland, Community Relations, Euclid Public Library, January 2003.]

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